After a two-week break, we are ready to jump back in to our Hopeful Flowers Stitch Along. It has been great to see all the progress that has been posted in our Facebook group—especially when we see how you have been putting your own touches on these little patterns. This week we are going to be focusing on the turquoise flower.
This block has some interesting stitches that create a lot of texture—the Palestrina, wheat ear, Cretan, and seed stitch. While they look complicated, we think you will love these stitches once you get the hang of them.
Block 3: Turquoise Flower
As in the previous blocks, we marked our stems using a light box or window and then hooped our block when doing the stitches for the stems.
Stitches used:
Palestrina, wheat ear, Cretan, stem, and seed stitch
The wheat ear stitch is a great stitch to use for a stem because it gives the illusion of thorns. It is basically a chain stitch with straight stitches on either side.
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| Bring your needle up a little bit below the top of the line. |
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| Make a small diagonal stitch to the right of the line. |
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| Make a small diagonal stitch to the left of the line. |
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| And then make a straight stitch from the top of line to meet the others. |
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| Bring your needle up on the line a bit below the previous stitches. |
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| Now take the back of your needle through the previous stitches. |
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| Bring the needle down to make a chain stitch. |
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| The first wheat ear stitch. |
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| Now make a diagonal stitch to the right of that first chain stitch. |
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| And then make another one to the left. |
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| Come up on the line a bit below the previous stitches. |
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| Bring the back of your needle through the previous stitches. |
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| Then down on the line to complete the chain. Continue on in the same way to the end of the line. |
The next stitch is the Palestrina stitch, which is done around the center cutout of each flower. It creates a knotted effect that can add dimension, but also secure the appliqué to the background.
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| Come up in the circle at the edge of the wool and bring your needle down in the wool at a diagonal and then back out inside the circle. |
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| This creates your first diagonal stitch. |
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| With the thread to the right, take the back of your needle down through that diagonal stitch. |
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| This creates two arms. |
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| Now take the back of your needle down through the top arm and over your working thread. |
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| This creates your first knot. |
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| Come across a bit and make your next diagonal stitch. |
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| Bring the back of your needle down through that stitch. |
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| The two arms. |
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| Bring the back of your needle down through the top arm and over your working thread. |
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| Continue working your way around the circle. |
The last stitch we are going to do is a Cretan stitch variation. This stitch is often used in crazy quilting and is usually done in a straight line. We will be doing it from top to bottom and angling our stitches to create the veins for our leaves.
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| Draw two lines on your leaf as shown. |
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| Bring your needle up at the top of the leaf, and down just below the top on the right side, and out just below that on the drawn line. |
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| Now do the same thing on the left side. |
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| Continue down the leaf following the lines. |
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| A nearly completed leaf. |
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| A close-up of the wheat ear and Cretan stitch. |
The last stitch, but certainly not the least, is the seed stitch, which is a simple stitch (small straight stitches placed randomly) that can pack a lot of punch. It can add contrast or subtle texture depending on the type of thread you use or the color. In the case of this particular flower, we wanted to add a little pop of color along with some texture.
To get your free download, follow these instructions:
1. Click on the link below that says Hopeful Flowers Block 3.
2. You will be directed to our What's Happening Page. It may ask you if you would like to go to that page, and if so, click the link provided.
3. Scroll down until you see the Hopeful Flowers wallhanging.
4. Follow the directions there for downloading your free pattern.
And that completes Block 3 of our Hopeful Flowers Stitch Along! We hope you will like trying these unique stitches on this week's block, and as always, we have linked a few videos as an added help.
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